Tag Archive: The Last Starfighter

An overlooked 2018 sci-fi adventure mini-series is making its way to a trade collected edition tomorrow. The six-issue story arc in Image Comics/Skybound’s Stellar is a mix of good sci-fi concepts and action-adventure imagery. You’ll find big-eyed aliens similar in design to the villainous hunter Zando-Zans of The Last Starfighter, a rundown future world bent on destruction like in Firefly, fast-paced action and characters like that of Syfy’s Killjoys, and a lead heroine called Stellar who is stuck out of time, with a past and future hidden from her, evoking recent years’ Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel stories.

Writer Joseph Keatinge(PopGun, Shutter) takes on a surprisingly complex idea created by Robert Kirkman(The Walking Dead) and Marc Silvestri(Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine) and delivers the kind of story that belongs in the graphic novel format. Stellar moves from place to place, from time to time. She pursues the evil Zenith, an alien monster she believes to be the cause of destruction in her future. Or is he pursuing her? She’s moving through time, encountering those who may be able to help her unravel the twisted time loop she seems to be stuck inside.

The pretty, futuristic stylings and color choices by artist Bret Blevins result in a standout read visually. And Keatinge pulls elements in from all kinds of sci-fi stories to create uncertainty and doubt. Readers will ask “what’s going on here?” more than once, with an ending that is both satisfying and interesting. It’s not the kind of tale that needs a sequel, the complete story is right there.

After its second week in theaters, Ready Player One is still chalking up sold-out screenings nationwide. Whether or not you’re a video game fan, and whether or not you read Ernest Cline’s novel the film is based on, it’s a fun way to spend 2.5 hours. Although his producer credits are hit-and-miss over the past few decades, director Steven Spielberg tends to take on films he loves, and handles them with due care. Same goes for Ready Player One. Along with his Oscar-nominated film The Post, Ready Player One proves there’s no slowing down for the director’s success in making good films. Even if Ready Player One is not as great as the films from the 1980s that it honors (Spielberg’s choice to ignore references from his own films leaves a big, obvious gap throughout scene after scene), it’s a nice story, and a progression of the kind of coming-of-age story the director first created long ago with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Yet the backbone of the film doesn’t flow from the 1980s, but from a 1971 film classic: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, based on Roald Dahl’s 1964 book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

In the year 2045, Wade Watts, played by Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse), and a group of people he has only met as their avatars in a giant MMPORG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) called OASIS, embark on a quest to solve the late OASIS founder’s puzzle in three steps, which would reward the winner with control of the OASIS and the hundreds of millions of dollars the company behind it (called IOI) is worth. The big win is the authenticity of relationships between Sheridan and his co-stars, including Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel) as Art3mis (pronounced Artemis), Aech (sounds like the letter “H”) played by Lena Waithe (Master of None), Daito (Win Morisaki), and Sho (Philip Zhao) as they work together on their journey. Cooke’s character comes alive as the high point of the film. The villains are more textbook bad guys, led by Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), with his hulking minion i-R0K (“I rock”) played by T.J. Miller (Deadpool), and a seriously underutilized Hannah John-Kamen as F’Nale. i-R0K carries the bulk of the film’s best comedy lines. Surprisingly the story misses the opportunity to give the viewer enough information to solve the three riddles of the film. Instead we watch the characters move through a great big fictional world only they know about. But the adventure is a good ride. Look for Mark Rylance (Dunkirk) and Simon Pegg (Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Shaun of the Dead) as an interesting odd couple of Gates/Jobs-inspired visionaries.

Get ready for dizzying races and chases with the latest CGI and motion capture special effects–so much so that much of the movie feels like an animated movie. We’ve come a long way from the 1980s version of the subject matter in Disney’s Tron–the first foray into a video game world. But Ready Player One is similar in tone to Tron and another video game movie of the era, The Last Starfighter–all good family films with positive themes. Here that’s the importance of community, leadership, and personal responsibility, and the negative side of new and emerging technologies like drones and having more than merely virtual social relationships.

Years after a much publicized but failed effort to restore the Star League by the likes of Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen, the writer for 1984’s beloved science fiction classic The Last Starfighter looks like he may finally be getting a sequel off the ground. According to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Rebels writer Gary Whitta, he has teamed up with writer Jonathan Betuel on a film that would stand as a sequel and a reboot to the original story that watched young Alex Rogan leave planet Earth to become a Starfighter to defend the Star League against the Ko-Dan Armada. It’s one heck of a tease–on the heels of last weekend’s release of the 1980s nostalgia-driven film Ready Player One, Whitta picked a great time to pique the interests of the original film’s legion of fans.

Originating from a video game parked conveniently at a rural trailer park and store called Starlite Starbrite (the store still exists in Acton, California, southwest of Vasquez Rocks Park), a young man demonstrated for the first video game generation that–despite parents’ protests to the contrary–you can save the world by playing for the high score. Although plenty of movies enter the concept art phase only to end up a footnote in a retrospective film art book decades later, preliminary design drafts of what has been referred to previously as merely Starfighter emerged via Whitta’s Twitter account Wednesday. Matt Allsopp, a concept artist who worked on Rogue One along with Whitta, created these unmistakable designs, incorporating the Star League emblem, Gunstar ships, and Starfighters. This takes the idea past the rumor phase, providing some evidence that this latest effort looks to be real after all.

Whitta teased the coming film project with eight photographs of concept art, writing on his Twitter page, “Okay, probably shouldn’t show you this so early but here’s a little something I’ve been tinkering on with my co-writer Jonathan Betuel. You might recognize the ships. Thanks to the amazing Matt Allsopp (lead concept artist on ROGUE ONE) for creating these images for us.” He later added, “People seemed excited by the first tweet so here’s a tiny bit more of Matt’s concept art. Can’t show anything more after this, it’s all too spoilery [smile] #GreetingsStarfighter”.

Lance Guest as Alex Rogan, as he is about to take his first step into a larger world, from 1984’s The Last Starfighter.

Our hope? How about bringing in original director Nick Castle, and if he’s not interested, what is Rogue One director Gareth Edwards up to these days? It seems like an obvious target release for the second half of 2019–the 35th anniversary of the original. It would also seem obvious to include actors Lance Guest, who played Alex, and Catherine Mary Stewart, who played Maggie. Both well-known The Music Man star Robert Preston and prolific TV and film actor Dan O’Herlihy, who played Centauri and Grig, respectively, passed away several years ago. In addition to the top photo above, check out seven more images of Matt Allsopp’s gorgeous, futuristic, and evocative concept art below:

Let’s start this year’s borg.com Hall of Fame ceremony by talking a little about who is NOT in the Hall of Fame who might come close if borgs were more loosely defined. We still haven’t included the non-organic: like automatons, androids, or robots. Think Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation before he met the queen in Star Trek: First Contact–despite his perfectly life-like appearance. For the bulk of the series Data was always an android, not a cyborg. He’s just a highly advanced C-3PO–until First Contact.

Droids from Star Wars,Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still,Robot B-9 from Lost in Space or Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet, the Autobots and Decepticons of Transformers, the police force of THX-1138, Box in Logan’s Run, the perfectly human appearing kid-like star of D.A.R.Y.L., the several automatons of episode after episode of The Twilight Zone,Beta in The Last Starfighter,Tron and Flynn and the other microscopic, human-like bits of data in Tron, Hellboy II’sGolden Army, the future Iowa Highway Patrolman in Star Trek 2009 (we assume he’s just wearing some police safety mask), Rosie the maid in The Jetsons,Hogey the Roguey from Red Dwarf,Marvin the Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, X-Men’s Sentinels, Lal and Juliana Tainer from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the title character of CHAPPiE, or Iron Giant, despite their human-like or bipedal nature, none are actual borgs because they lack biological matter, living cells, or the like.

The same applies for the robotic hosts in Westworld–Michael Crichton’s original was clear these were merely automaton robots and we’ve seen nothing from 2016’s HBO series to show that has changed (even the NY Timesgot it wrong). Which explains why The Stepford Wives aren’t on the list, or Fembots, either from The Bionic Woman or the Austin Powers series, or the Buffybot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So who’s in?

Here is Round 4, the twenty-eight 2016borg.com Hall of Fame honorees, in no particular order, some from 2016 and others from the past, bringing the roster count to 134 individuals and groups:

First up is Time, yep… Time itself. From Alice Through the Looking Glass, a powerful Father Time-esque human/clockwork hybrid who rules over Underland–

From George Lucas’s original Force-wielding character as envisioned by Mike Mayhew: Kane Starkiller from Marvel Comics’ alternate universe story, The Star Wars:

The Major, from 2017’s Ghost in the Shell:

Max Steel got his own movie in 2016:

Steel hails from the Mattel action figure who received multiple super powers due to an accidental infusion of nanobots:

Cave Carson from the update of the classic DC Comics comic book series spelunker, the new series Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye:

Although he was a charter member of the borg.com Hall of Fame, Darth Vader returned in Rogue One, providing some new images of the classic borg:

Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada…

It’s no secret that we at borg.com are fans of sci-fi videogames–especially if they are part of a classic sci-fi movie like Tron or The Last Starfighter. Thanks to the freeware programmers over at RogueSynapse you can download a freeware version of a brilliant, true looking version of The Last Starfighter as seen in the movie right now, and spend the rest of the weekend mastering your Starfighter skills.

Grig and Centauri would be proud. Our apologies to your spouse. The picnic will probably get rained out anyway.

Oh, and you’re welcome.

Those from the generation that lived through these early video games recall keying in entire games like this that were included in Games or Compute! magazine. It looked just like this, only it went on for dozens of pages:

Halloween–the 1978 movie that put both director John Carpenter and actress Jamie Lee Curtis on the map–is coming back to theaters for one night only. The film was created for only $300,000 and premiered at Kansas City’s downtown Midland Theater 37 years ago this month and then spread by word of mouth across the country to earn $70 million and become the first modern horror blockbuster. To illustrate the low budget, Nick Castle, the actor that played the story’s villain, Michael Myers, wore a last-minute found $2 William Shatner/Captain Kirk mask. Now Halloween is Fathom Events’ next big Halloween event.

More than 200 theaters will air Halloween on the eve of All Hallow’s Eve (that’s the night before Halloween). The movie, co-written by the late, great Debra Hill, will include an introduction recorded by John Carpenter.

If you make it to the screening, keep an eye out for an already well-known young actress back in 1978 named Kyle Richards, who had been a household name for her recurring role on Little House on the Prairie and the Disney film Escape to Witch Mountain, and would go on to co-star in the great ghost story Watcher in the Woods.

Inspired by the new blue space suits in the new movie Prometheus,yesterday we began showing the evolution of the space suit as seen by Hollywood from the 1950s through the 1970s, including a few photos of real astronaut suits that influenced movie designers. Today we continue trekking forward to the costumes of today.

In 1979 the original cast of Star Trek returned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Mr. Spock, clad in an orange space suit, tries to meld with the menace called V’ger.

Kirk arrives in a white suit to rescue Spock after he is knocked unconscious.

Forget about the Astronaut Farmer, I really liked the 1979 TV series Salvage 1 with Andy Griffith, an early glimpse at an astronaut a la Virgin’s Richard Branson, where private folks build a rocket from scratch and send it up, up, and away.

I don’t recall Roger Moore wearing the classic aluminum looking suit in the James Bond movie Moonraker, but he wore one in PR photos.

The yellow suits worn throughout most of Moonraker’s space scenes.

Here is an astronaut scene you might not recall–In 1980’s Superman II, Zod and friends use American astronauts on the moon as playthings before bringing their wrath to Earth.

In 1982 we get another look at the Kirk and Spock suits from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, now worn by Walter Koenig and Paul Winfield alongside Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

More of a protective suit, a few of these radiological suits were equipped with glass helmets, making us think they might work outside the USS Enterprise. Here Scotty and his engineering crew wore these in both Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Either way I think these make for some awesome designed space suits, and Scotty never looked cooler.

In 1979 we met the first of Ridley Scott’s Alien universe, and witnessed HR Giger’s visionary suits for the crew of the Nostromo.

Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley had her own version of a space suit.

In the 1981 film Outland, Sean Connery takes an excursion to Jupiter’s moon Io. And again we have multi-colored space suits!

Sometimes creating space suits means replicating reality, and it was hardly ever done better than in 1983’s Mercury program biopic, The Right Stuff.

The Right Stuff also featured Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, and here he augured a test plane into the ground. Crash and burn.

In 1984 Roy Scheider discovered this time he needed a bigger ship in the 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel, 2010.

One of my all-time favorite sci-fi movies is The Last Starfighter. Grig and Alex wore some of the best looking space suits in this film (OK, yes, I’ve included a few pilot outfits in this list).

In 1986 we got to see kids in space in Spacecamp, starring Lea Thompson.

Marketed as “from the makers of Star Wars,” the 1990 film Solar Crisis didn’t even come close.

In the original (but unreleased) cut of Star Trek Generations, the film was to open with a suborbital drop by Captain James T. Kirk. The heat shield tiles were a good idea.

Ron Howard created one of the best films ever of any genre with the superb account of Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon.

In 1996 with Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Picard and Worf wore this type of suit to defeat a threat from The Borg. These suits were later re-used by the crew in Star Trek Voyager.

In 1997’s Event Horizon, Sam Neill wore a darker and grittier look.

Matt LeBlanc piloted the Jupiter 2 in the remake of Lost in Space (1998) complete with helmeted suit.

Red Planet also featured The Matrix’s Carrie Ann Moss, sporting her own cool but differently styled suit.

In 2000 the all-star cast of Space Cowboys mirrored reality, looking like John Glenn in his second voyage to the stars.

Also in 2000, Mission to Mars featured this type of astro-wear.

In 2002 George Clooney donned a space suit in Solaris, where a psychiatrist investigates a space crew.

But it is really hard to beat these copper colored space suits as worn in 2002 by Scott Bakula’s Captain Archer on the TV series Enterprise–for me the color reflects the old heavy underwater gear of centuries past.

The key impetus that created the Fantastic Four in the 2005 film was a volley of cosmic rays, turning Michael Chiklis’s Ben Grimm into The Thing.

In 2006 in the episode “Waters of Mars” David Tennant’s Doctor Who lead an incredible mission to save Earthlings in space, a mission with a terrible destiny.

In 2008 the rhino-alien Judoon took Doctor Who by storm, looking tough in these big suits…

And in the same year, the short aliens with big blue suits, the Sontarans, also from Doctor Who.

Maybe the strangest space suit so far, this bulky outfit was worn by Cillian Murphy in Danny Boyle’s film Sunshine.

Maybe the future is really in gear like Iron Man’s suit. After all he’s taken it into space.

Whether you’re a traditional Trekkie or not, you had to like the great look of JJ Abrams’ 2009 remake of Star Trek. And still we have mutli-colored outfits to tell everyone apart!

In 2009’s Moon, Sam Rockwell has some issues to deal with. One of those over-hyped films that I couldn’t get through. Still, it had a good overall look.

In 2009 the TV series Stargate Universe featured these very futuristic, detailed space suits.

Very simple space suits from the 2009 TV series Defying Gravity.

In 2011’s Doctor Who episode “The Impossible Astronaut” Matt Smith was killed by whoever was in this astronaut suit.

Also in the 2011 Doctor Who season, the episode “Rebel Flesh” featured this future-human protective gear, which might as well be a space suit. Over the decades Doctor Who has featured aliens in space suits, too, and too many to list!

Which brings us to June 2012, and next week’s premiere of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, with these slick blue suits appearing on posters everywhere.

Now we know this was not a comprehensive list, but please drop us a note and let us know if we missed any key space suits.

If you ever had an inkling to go to film school, if you are going to film school or if you teach film courses, Richard Rickitt’s Special Effects: The History and Technique should be required reading. Not only is it a comprehensive work about the history and craft of special effects, it is a detailed account of the history and progress of film, and could serve as a college textbook to a master class in film technique. And it is also a history of science and technology in its own right.

Rickitt’s Special Effects is a well-reviewed work, which is why it was purchased for me as a gift. It is used as a college text in film schools and for good reason. It has seen several printings since its first printing in Great Britain in 2006, including a reprint as recently as 2011, and it is as current as a nearly 400-page volume can be, including new effects technologies employed as recently as the Lord of the Rings films and X-Men 3.

Because of its price, Special Effects may not be for the casual movie enthusiast–but only because of price–as it can cost $40 for older editions and up to $230 for the most current edition. Yet if you are really interested in behind-the-scenes cinema, it is probably worth saving for, and if you’re a college student, just slip it into your current semester’s $800 book purchase (at least that’s what I spent on each of my last few semesters for books and I can’t imagine prices have dropped–plus this book is actually a fun read you’ll hold on to). It’s breadth is enormous, with both general and detailed coverage of landmark people and technologies from George Melies to Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen to Industrial Light & Magic to Pixar and Weta. Although it purports to cover merely Special Effects, in truth it covers the beginning of film and every technology that was created since, building upon each discovery and new invention to bring us to the complex CGI technologies of today.

This is far from a quick read, and will likely serve as a reference work or one you pull off the shelf from time to time when you need something exciting to read of the non-fiction variety. I mentioned college text–Rickitt is a good teacher, clearly explaining in terms anyone can understand not just the “what” but the “why” and “how” of benchmarks in film with visuals and diagrams, including explanations of the role and use of technologies like the zoetrope, the parts and functions of the modern movie camera, the history and types of film recording materials, matte film, blue-screens, film printing, optical and digital compositing, the A to Z of film projection, post-production techniques like image interpolation, the use of mirrors, forced perspective and miniaturization, pyrotechnics, cloud tanks, models, motion-control photography, digital and procedural modelling, texture mapping, special effects animation, rotoscoping, 3D technologies, motion blur, digital skin, performance capture, particle systems, high dynamic range images, match moving, rendering, the A to Z of matte painting, props, make-up, prosthetics, animatronics, sculpting, inner mechanisms, performance systems, digital make-up, atmospheric effects, breakaway effects, sound recording, sound effects mixing, foleying, dialogue replacement, and the future of film technologies.

A diagram from Rickitt’s Special Effects: The History and Technique

The author uses hundreds of photographs and provides real-use examples from movies to explain techniques. Detailed analysis is used for movie benchmarks Rickitt has identified, including The Abyss (1989), The Birds (1963), Aliens (1986), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Citizen Kane (1941), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959), Destination Moon (1950), Earthquake (1974), The Exorcist (1973), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Forbidden Planet (1956), Forrest Gump (1994), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Jurassic Park (1993), King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005), The Last Starfighter (1984), The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), The Lost World (1925), The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003), Metropolis (1926), Mighty Joe Young (1949), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), all six Star Wars films (1977-2005), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Thief of Baghdad (1940), Things to Come (1936), Titanic (1997), Toy Story (1995), Tron (1982), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The War of the Worlds (1953), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Willow (1988), and Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).

An early edition of Rickitt’s book–note that earlier versions will not have the most up-to-date coverage of current technologies. The version shown at the top of this review is the most recent edition.

But you don’t need to look at Special Effects: The History and Technique as a dense book of facts. Pick it up now and then and enjoy reading the book in 4-5 page stints and you’ll become an expert in film in no time, or just be amazed at how the magic of film works.

While we wait for the opening night of Cowboys and Aliens on July 29, two days ago we walked through the top western movies to get psyched for Jon Favreau’s big budget clash of Old West and classic sci-fi story. Today we run down the best alien movies Hollywood has created. We’re not thinking so much about aliens in their native environment, or Star Wars and Star Trek films would top the list, but unexpected human encounters with otherworldly, friendly and not-so-friendly brethren.

1. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951). It should be no surprise that a movie from the director of West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (and the editor of Citizen Kane and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) makes the top spot of this list. Robert Wise’s classic story would fit solidly alongside the best Twilight Zone episodes. And story is the point–no modern glitz and special effects necessary. Michael Rennie appears to be just a man. But he is not. He is Klaatu, a visitor who has come to observe us in his flying saucer with the giant robot Gort. How would we react to an alien visitor? The first look at ourselves revealed paranoia and fear–it is the original self-reflection story that would later inspire V and Alien Nation.

2. PREDATOR (1987). He’s a hunter. A collector. And he’s on vacation. That doesn’t sound like a high calibre story description. Substitute the alien visitor and Predator is a western not unlike High Noon. Our creature is a visitor with a secret past like any of a number of Clint Eastwood gunslingers. And he is just as cool, a hunter that would stand firm alongside Boba Fett, Bossk, Dengar and Zuckus. His make-up is unreal–truly alien to us–and he looks like a Nausicaan–that race that shoved a pool cue though Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Let’s see, who has an unusual skull that would look good on his trophy mantle? How about that melon on Arnold Schwarzenegger? There’s a cool vibe throughout the film and a great cast–and what other genre film features two future state governors? And one of those gauntlets looks like Daniel Craig’s from the Cowboys and Aliens trailers.

3. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). But for Star Wars this picture would have gone off the charts the year it was released. Because of multiple Star Wars viewings by me in 1977 and 1978 (I saw it ten times with my brother and sister instead of going to see anything else), I didn’t get to see this movie until years later when it was released on video. But once I saw it, I realized how grand in scope it was. Mix all the episodes of Leonard Nimoy’s old TV series In Search Of… and you’ll end up here. A ship in the middle of the desert, a 1940s squadron appears out of nowhere, and we keep seeing this shape, painting it, making models of it. Near the place where the Sundance Kid grew up is a destination for sci-fi fans now, at Devil’s Tower, Wyoming. And those five musical tones. And an alien kidnapping scene, revealing nothing about the aliens, toys that seem to come alive, shocking and scary. Invaders or friends? Richard Dreyfuss’s second best movie. One of Spielberg’s best.

4. E.T.,THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982). Not only did Close Encounters and The Day the Earth Stood Still teach us that aliens can be our friends, with E.T. a lot of us would never think to put up a fight when the invasion arrives. Ugly but lovable, E.T. was funny, thrilling, and made us all cheer. Ignore the recent edited, updated version–the original was just fine, thank you very much. A classic pop culture film that gave us several catch phrases: “Home,” “I’ll be right here,” “Be good,” “Phone home.” And I am still addicted to Reese’s Pieces. Another great Spielberg picture in his long list of blockbusters.

5. ALIENS (1986). Bill Paxton’s Private Hudson had it right when he said, “Game over, man, game over!” The polar opposite of the aliens-as-friends films, these exoskeletal aliens have nothing in common with humans. As villains, there is nothing for us to sympathize with. They will just exterminate us. This was a wake-up call for everyone who wants to meet our galactic neighbors. Stay home and draw your curtains instead. It was destiny that someone would pit them against Predator years later and it was no contest that we’d cheer the Predator. And I don’t care what anyone says about the first movie with these monsters, Alien–Aliens, the sequel, was tons better with less unnecessary gross-outs. You’ve seen one stomach burst, you’ve seen them all. Skip the sequels but check out Aliens vs Predator for even more fun.

6. THE LAST STARFIGHTER (1984). When Robert Preston, the original salesman from River City in The Music Man, comes to your planet looking to sell you something, like being a Starfighter, you know you have a different kind of film. Here we expand the alien movie archetype from either good or bad–aliens are shades of gray, like people, some are good, some are evil. Directed by Nick Castle, John Carpenter’s colleague, a simple, quiet movie that has a lot of heart and makes everyone wish they’d get Alex Rogan’s calling. And Grig’s make-up was the greatest thing until Enemy Mine. With a great ending for the bad guys, with an all-time classic exchange: “We’re locked into the moon’s gravitational pull! What do we do?” Answer? “We die.” Back in the days of arcades, this movie rivaled Tron as to coolness factor. “Greetings, Starfighter. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan armada.” Where can I sign up?

7. THEY LIVE (1988). This is a John Carpenter classic reviewed in an earlier post and puts Carpenter’s storytelling up there with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Here, the story goes that Earth has already been invaded and They have been living amongst us. We could just ignore them. After all they aren’t hurting anyone. But once we see them they are sooo ugly. And we were here first. Some of us will play along to get the “good life”. But for one guy trying to keep to himself, this is something he can’t ignore. The truth must get out. Roddy Piper is here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and he’s all out of bubblegum. But no happily ever after will be had here. They are here to stay. On the one hand, some movie watchers and critics dismiss They Live as just another action flick. But if you pay attention, like with all Carpenter movies, you can see Carpenter’s masterwork is much more complex and dips into our own world’s politics and those who do, and those who don’t, sell-out.

8. ALIEN NATION (1988). Much more than just a morality play and allegory to our own prejudices, Alien Nation digs into the struggles all lifeforms surely must face in a multi-species environment. What motivates us, how do we get along with others? James Caan (The Godfather, Elf) and Mandy Patinkin (Princess Bride) were perfectly cast as human and Tenctonese cops. The film’s themes prompted an immediate successful TV series starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpont. Beyond the deeper themes, it’s a great police story and an odd, but fun, buddy movie of the Odd Couple variety.

9. WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005). I almost didn’t see this remake in the theater. But Tom Cruise movies are exciting and enjoyable 95% of the time. So I saw it and just re-watched it a few weeks ago. Here we see the futility of combating an invasion of even slightly more technology and might than us. The situation really is hopeless. All one can do is run. As in They Live, with War of the Worlds the aliens have been here for a long time, only here they parked their vehicles here and are just now coming back to rev ’em up. This movie has great special effects, truly creepy unsympathetic villains, and a lot of dread. You really feel the pain of the result of alien visitors who don’t want to be our friends. Yet another Spielberg blockbuster.

10. DISTRICT 9 (2009). A great film of political complexity. A variant on Alien Nation, yet the same basic story. An extraterrestrial race is forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth. Their vessel runs out of resources and parks itself over South Africa. It’s a blunt morality tale about the brutality of prejudice. This one will strangely make you cheer against the humans. Luckily for the visitors, they find a kindred spirit in a government agent who is accidentally exposed to their biotechnology. You’ll find yourself asking: What are your values? How do you treat others who are different? Where would you draw the line between life worthy of mutual respect and not? Its documentary-style filming and non-American cast is refreshing and new. And half the time you have to cringe at the protagonist’s actions. Are we with him or not?

Honorable Mention: Starship Troopers (giant bugs destroy Rio de Janeiro, Johnny Rico is a classic western hero type), Enemy Mine (like Stagecoach, a human is stuck with an alien and even without a common language they come to realize how alike even different species can be and how valuable relationships can be formed by just trying to get along).

Any fan of DC Comics and hero Green Lantern can’t dismiss Green Lantern as just another superhero movie. It sticks to established canon more than any other comic book-based movie yet made, either from DC or Marvel. But in doing so I am not sure how the general audiences will react to both the ends the film goes to to explain the backstory, and the fact that the movie is entirely Hal Jordan’s origin story and nothing else.

With any effort to transform a long-standing character or franchise to the silver screen, the result can arrive at any place on the pendulum swing. At one extreme the movie can adhere to established character canon and please loyal followers of the character. At the opposite end of the spectrum we’ve seen countless movies that drop all canon and appeal to whatever Hollywood thinks is going to cause the masses to buy a second ticket. As an example, I saw the 2009 Star Trek film as a 40/60 split on the canon vs mass appeal scale–the creators broke a bit with established canon yet followed it in some ways to create a parallel universe, but really focused more on special effects and action and less on story to appeal to the general audience. With Green Lantern, the creators came up with a surprising film that is closer to a 80/20 canon-to-appeal ratio split. As a DC Comics and Green Lantern fan, you have to love that approach. But I think that may leave some mainstream moviegoers wondering what all the Green Lantern Corps thing was about. That said, these are probably the same moviegoers that love Ryan Reynolds playing the superhero. So the result is there is something for everyone here.

With all that I liked I will start with what didn’t appeal to me: Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. If this were a story about Green Lantern Kyle Rayner I would have bought it totally. But here’s the Hal Jordan I know: He’s the stereotypical square-jawed, authoritarian hero, that is never impetuous, never a rebel, and always responsible. That’s the Hal I know from the Justice League growing up. Basically, his classic relationship with Green Arrow mimicked Superman’s with Batman. In fact, in the JLA you could often substitute a conversation between Superman and Batman with that of Green Lantern and Green Arrow. Brash and rogue-ish? That’s Batman or Green Arrow, not Hal. Hal’s a bit aloof. Not a guy you’d cast Ryan Reynolds to play. In my book, that guy is Kyle Rayner, a later Green Lantern. But I realize Hal has changed over the years. But I thought this Lantern too much Reynolds, not enough traditional Hal. They almost had me thinking this would be another story like with Maverick (the movie), where Mel Gibson’s Maverick at the end of the movie was revealed to be the original James Garner’s Maverick’s son. No such luck. But if you look at the photos of Hal’s dad in this movie, played by The Closer‘s Jon Tenney, Tenney would have been a perfect Hal. Here’s Tenney and the comic book Hal:

And here is Reynolds and comic book Lantern Kyle Rayner–a closer match:

What I liked above all else is the supporting character casting and acting. What prompted me the most to see the movie in the theater vs. waiting for the video rental was the previews involving Mark Strong (from Sherlock Holmes) as the red-faced, pointy eared Lantern, Sinestro. Strong is a solid villain in all his roles, although he’s not a villain here. He truly made the comic book Sinestro come to life:

The costumes, all CGI, looked great although Reynolds almost seemed too tight fitting at times–how does that happen?

The Green Lantern Corps–those 3,600 protectors of the universe, couldn’t have been better, the first time in any movie I can recall a diverse alien league with only one human–showing a better scope of what such an expansive, inhabited galaxy could look like. Geoffrey Rush’s (unbilled) voicing of Hal teacher Lantern Tomar-Re was a great touch as was Temuera Morrison (Star Wars prequel’s Jango Fett), who brought gravity to the role of Lantern Abin Sur. And I didn’t mind Hal’s love interest/boss Blake Lively as Carol Ferris (although some of their scenes together were a bit unnecessarily long) as the story was right out of the comic book, but there was no explanation or need for her affected European accent (which seemed to come and go). Tim Robbins was as good as ever as a corrupt senator.

And along with Sinestro and the Corps, the creators nailed the Guardians of the Universe, and not just with their appearance. I always hated these guys, all their authoritative, know-everything-without-any-explanation really annoyed me in the comics and they succeeded here with that same annoying heir of superiority. Again, they were lifted straight from the comic pages:

How often in comic book movies does a character really seem to pop out of the comic book drawings? I can think of Johnny Storm’s Human Torch in the first Fantastic Four as one and Hellboy in the Hellboy films.

I also appreciated the doses of humor throughout the story. And ignoring my desire for someone else to play the role, Reynolds was entertaining and believable, from his reaction to a key discovery early in the film to his growth into the Lantern role toward the end. He couldn’t have delivered the Lantern oath better: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight…”

As to story, the stakes were raised here compared to other films–the shear scope of the danger was bigger and so was the increased death toll for a comic-related film. As to plot, the world building was nicely done especially with the detailed story that needed told in a short period of time. The story actually closely mirrored the plot of The Last Starfighter. It worked here, although I found myself predicting what would happen at each step. Since The Last Starfighter was a great film it didn’t take anything away from this effort telling a complete story. I’ll give Green Lantern a solid 4 stars on a 5-star scale.

So what’s next? A Justice League story would be nice to see, especially with Marvel working on their Avengers movie. DC has spent too much screentime with Superman and Batman. It’s time to open up the DC universe.

PS. As seems to be a staple of recent comic book movies, stick around after the initial credits for a hint at a sequel.